MICHAEL MITSANAS
Protests sweep Seoul, days after Yoon announces forced labor agreement
March 12, 2023 • By Michael Mitsanas
SEOUL, South Korea — They flooded Seoul's streets in droves, adorning its famously busy roadways with picket signs and a thunderous chant of defiance:
"Yoon Suk-yeol?" a protest leader yells.
"STEP DOWN," the crowd roars back.
In South Korea, thousands of protestors marched through the capital Saturday, calling for the resignation of the country's president, Yoon Suk-yeol, less than a week after his administration announced an agreement with the Japanese government aiming to settle their longstanding forced labor dispute.
The agreement's proponents say it allows South Korean-Japan relations to move forward, and Japan maintains that the two countries settled all forced labor disputes in their 1965 normalization of relations.
But a broad majority of the country opposes the agreement, according to recent polling, and the protestors say the plan unduly exonerates Japan for its World War II era atrocities.
"Yoon Suk-yeol?" a protest leader yells.
"STEP DOWN," the crowd roars back.
In South Korea, thousands of protestors marched through the capital Saturday, calling for the resignation of the country's president, Yoon Suk-yeol, less than a week after his administration announced an agreement with the Japanese government aiming to settle their longstanding forced labor dispute.
The agreement's proponents say it allows South Korean-Japan relations to move forward, and Japan maintains that the two countries settled all forced labor disputes in their 1965 normalization of relations.
But a broad majority of the country opposes the agreement, according to recent polling, and the protestors say the plan unduly exonerates Japan for its World War II era atrocities.
Photos by Michael Mitsanas